Orlando did in fact fall hook, line and sinker, so the metaphor of being hooked through the nose and dragged through the waters isn’t far off, particularly given that Sasha never quite appears to be in love with him.

But Sasha is enigmatic and we never hear her story – she just leaves without explanation.  All you creative writers, please, write ‘Sasha’s Story’ – she has a strong and attractive personality and the background – 16th century Muscovy – could hardly be more exotic.

‘But again as they skated towards London such suspicions melted in his breast, and he felt as if he had been hooked by a great fish through the nose and rushed through the waters unwillingly, yet with his own consent.’

Source: Virginia Woolf, Orlando: A Biography, ed. with an introduction by Rachel Bowlby (Oxford: World’s Classics, 1992), p. 51

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